Did Google just kill PR agencies? | ZDNet: "Lots of links, lots of repeated key words, and multiple postings of a press release to different sites, are all red flags to Google under the new rules. Such actions are viewed by Google as blatant attempts to trick its algorithm into ranking a site higher than its allotted position.
Yet these have all become standard practices at PR agencies. Did Google just kill the PR business?
The fact of the matter is that Google and PR agencies earn their money in the same way: promoting businesses. Google does it by selling ads on its AdWords or AdSense networks, and in return it directs lots of traffic to the site.
They don't see themselves in this way, but PR agencies are essentially engaged in a form of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Google is at war with SEO companies and is trying to wipe them out."

Google Search Updates Influence Demand Media's Entry into ...
EcommerceBytesGoogle's position as the dominant search engine has a ripple effect on all kinds of online content. Ideally, the most quality content receives the highest ...Demand Media seems to be addressing by expanding into ecommerce. The company recently purchased Society6 for $94 million in a combined cash and stock deal....EcommerceBytes

How low-paid workers at 'click farms' create appearance of online popularity | Technology | The Guardian: "Dispatches found one boss in Bangladesh who boasted of being "king of Facebook" for his ability to create accounts and then use them to create hundreds or thousands of fake likes.
Click farms have become a growing challenge for companies which rely on social media measurements – meant to indicate approval by real users – to estimate the popularity of their products.
For the workers, though, it is miserable work, sitting at screens in dingy rooms facing a blank wall, with windows covered by bars, and sometimes working through the night. For that, they could have to generate 1,000 likes or follow 1,000 people on Twitter to earn a single US dollar."

Usable Pages. Pages should be simple, clear, provide unique value, and meet the average user’s reason for coming to the page. Google wants to serve up results that will satisfy a user’s search intent. It does not want to serve up results that users will visit, click the back button, and select the next result.(source infra)

In Mastering Machine Intelligence, Google Rewrites Search Engine Rules | TechCrunch: " . . . Understanding Google’s policies and not running afoul of them is critical to maintaining placement on Google search results. . .. Here’s what SEO experts need to focus on now: Clean, well-structured site architecture. Sites should be easy to use and navigate, employ clean URL structures that make hierarchical sense, properly link internally, and have all pages, sections and categories properly labeled and tagged. . . . (read more at link above)

After backlash Yahoo's Tumblr quietly restores adult, NSFW blogs | ZDNet: "Within 24 hours Tumblr . . . quietly returned the blogs back to internal and external search, and folded its "Adult" blogs into the wider "NSFW" category. When reached for a statement, Tumblr's Head of Communications told ZDNet, The two options ("NSFW" and "Adult") were clearly causing confusion, so we’ve dropped the extra option. If your blog contains anything too sexy for the average workplace, simply check "Flag this blog as NSFW" so people in Safe Mode can avoid it. Your blog will still be indexed by third-party search engines." (read more at link above)

Google Maps out-Yelps Yelp: "It's more than just rattling off names, numbers and addresses like the white pages. Explore is a highly visual part of Google Maps that gives you a quick survey of the best options around you across five categories: Eat, Drink, Shop, Play, Sleep. The tool incorporates all the reviews Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) acquired when it bought Zagat, and it combines those with Google's own user-generated ratings." (read more at link above)

What is Structured Data and Why You Need To Know Now: "Structured Data Outline
I. Definition: Data on a website that can be classified by a search engine.
II. 4 Types of Structured Data: Schema.org – is a collaborative structured data effort by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!
Microformats – basic, simplest form of structured data
Microdata – next generation including HTML5
RDFa – most functionality, works with all XML-based languages
JSON-LD – extract and store data from all of the above . . . ." (read more at link above)